French Frights
Market prices following the French election announcement show how quickly information is processed—and why markets are so hard to outguess.
By Wes Crill, PhD Senior Investment Director and Vice President | Investment Strategist
Many investors view government debt as a concern for future market returns. The long-run data suggest country debt-to-GDP has not been correlated with stock market returns. This is likely because debt tends to be a slow-moving variable that investors can observe and account for when setting prices. Markets do not react to circumstances; they react to news. If the government debt is not news, it’s unsurprising it’s not a headwind to stock markets.
Sometimes, however, markets are greeted with news about a government’s fiscal outlook. France’s President Macron recently called for a snap, or unscheduled, parliamentary election. This election opens the door to policy changes that would substantially increase government spending deficits. In the span of just a few days, the cost of sovereign debt relative to peers—represented by the yield spread between French and German bond yields—increased by more than half, from 0.49% to over 0.75% by June 18.
Markets continuously and instantaneously process new information. That’s what makes them so difficult to outguess. But investors can take comfort in the forward-looking nature of markets. Once changes in circumstances are reflected in prices, investors should expect positive returns, regardless of the outcome of elections.
EXHIBIT 1
France minus Germany 10-Year Government Bond Yield Spread
June 19, 2023–June 18, 2024
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